The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Typically, printing devices in an office environment are often shared by many people. For example, it is not uncommon for a single color printer to be shared by as many as one hundred people.
The functionality that printing devices are capable of provided has steadily grown over time. To illustrate, certain printing devices, referred to as multi-function peripherals (MFP), are not only capable of performing printing functionality, but are also capable of performing copying, faxing, and/or scanning functions as well. As printing devices become capable of providing more services, the need to share access to printing devices will likely continue in the future.
Printing devices are often left unattended and are operated without a dedicated operator. An IT department or a local administrator is often responsible for managing a printing device. Typically, the primary focus of an IT department or a local administrator is the general maintenance of the devices and networks they support. As a result, the party responsible for maintaining a printing device may not be aware that the printing device is experiencing a problem until long after the problem occurred. Illustrative examples of problems that a printing device may encounter in operation include the printing device running out of paper, the printing device becoming jammed, and the output tray of the printing device becoming too full to accommodate additional output. Often, a printing device may encounter a problem that prevents it from operating normally.